Blessed Drudgery

 Today was a great day. I have started on my new goals and I accomplished a lot! That always makes me feel great. 

One of my goals this year is to NOT scroll on my phone when I'm in bed. It doesn't mean I can't scroll during certain hours. If I want to, I just have to get out of bed to do it. To remind myself, I put a sticky note that I had written my morning routine on my phone. The idea is that I have to move the sticky note to use my phone. It was a good reminder! I got up right away and got my exercise clothes on. 

I'm reading a great book called Atomic Habits and he talks about habit stacking - which is similar to what Gretchen Rubin calls the strategy of pairing - where you do something when you're doing something else. For example, I used to always read scriptures when I was on the treadmill. Reading every day was no challenge at all. Then I started walking to school and I didn't have my pairing. I decided that each morning I am going to do some time on the treadmill for two reasons: One is because I want to become a runner. This month I'm committing to running for one minute every day (pathetic, I know....but it's something I know for sure that I can do!) Today I did it and I stayed on the treadmill for an hour because I also was reading at the same time. It was terrific! 

I also did quite a lot of housework. I did my usual Saturday House Blessing (vacuum and mop and generally tidy up) but I also got a bucket with some good soapy water and bleach and cleaned some floor spots that just don't get clean with a mop. What a difference that made! I also cleaned the oven. I sprayed it with oven cleaner and left it for two hours, but that wasn't quite enough. It required some scrubbing. Actually, it required a lot of scrubbing....and it was brutal! I did get the glass clean though! I promise myself I will never let it get that bad again!

Ain't that something! I posted the before and after and my cousin asked me how I got it so clean. After I told her, she said she figured she'd just buy a new oven. Honestly, I don't think that's a bad idea. It was exhausting work!! I'm eager to get back to school so that I don't have time for things like this anymore. LOL

More drudgery: I got groceries and made my lunches and snacks for next week. These are the things that make life so much better! It's a breeze if I don't have to think about lunches all week. 

Okay. That was a lot of drudgery - but it sure feels great to get it all done! Life is good. I'm grateful to have time for such drudgery.